Some restaurants emerge fully formed, rough edges smoothed by architects and restaurant consultants, menus run through focus groups. Lot 1 is the other kind of new restaurant, a raw space seemingly willed into being, black walls and nine funky tables, heart-stoppingly beautiful tattooed waitresses, and a farmers-market-intensive roster of dishes. I was happy to hear the entire first Black Sabbath album played as soft background music. Restaurant owner Eileen Leslie murmurs about doubling the restaurant's size, installing a tasting menu, beefing up the air conditioning and becoming licensed for beer and wine. She's making it up as she goes along, which could be either annoying or incredibly cool, depending on where you stand on these things.

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Some restaurants emerge fully formed, rough edges smoothed by architects and restaurant consultants, menus run through focus groups, wine lists put into place by sommeliers who may never have set foot into the ZIP code. Lot 1 is the...